‘Father and Son’ by Bernard MacLaverty

‘Father and Son’ by Bernard MacLaverty

There are five types of narration used:

1. 
   father’s thoughts
   
2. 
   son’s thought’s
   
3. 
   father’s speech
   
4. 
   son’s speech
   
5. 
   occasional 3^rd person narrator
   

The overall effect of these juxtaposed voices (i.e. voices placed next to one another) is one of fragmentation, and this mirrors the story’s central theme (breakdown between father and son/deterioration of the father/son relationship.

Specific juxtaposition of father and son’s thoughts emphasises the gulf between them. MacLaverty achieves the readers’ sympathy by using alternating first person narration – so we are party to both characters’ sets of feelings. Their thoughts about each other are successfully contrasted. E.g. the opening – father stands at his son’s bedroom door and thinks his son is sleeping. His thoughts reveal love for his son and pain at his refusal to talk: ‘I love him so much it hurts but he won’t talk to me’.

His son is not asleep; rather, he is acutely aware of his father’s presence. He feels no respect for his father any longer and is ashamed of what he has become: ‘Your hand shakes in the morning, Da, because you’re a coward…’He’s scared of his own shadow.’ He even describes him as a woman: ‘My mother is dead and I have another in her place. He is an old woman.’ (metaphor) This is an appropriate but insulting comparison because it is the opposite of the traditional masculine role. Traditionally men were associated with outdoor pursuits, while the women’s domain was indoors. In this story the father is hidden away inside the house because he is scared – ‘he used to dig the garden, grow vegetables and flowers for half the street. Now he sits and waits for me and the weeds have taken over. I would like to slap his face and make a man out of him.’

Dialogue

The speech of both is clipped, terse and ultimately pointless (e.g. ‘where are you going today?’ ‘what’s it to you?’ etc.)

The word choice and sentence structure helps us to understand what it’s like for the father (helplessness, suffering, fear etc.) He asks the questions to try and understand his son/penetrate his silence, but is met with abusive answers and accusations of interference. (e.g. ‘why don’t you tell me where you go?’)

‘Look, Da, I have not touched the stuff since I came back.’

‘What’s that? Under your pillow?’

‘It’s none of your fucking business’.

Reader feels pity and sympathy for the father as we hear the son’s thoughts in the narrative and father is trying everything to talk with his son. We can understand how frustrated and worried he is as his son has been involved with drugs before, and now is again secretive and withdrawn.

Unusual punctuation

e.g. ‘I had to go and collect you. Like a dog.’ – shows hesitancy/pauses between them/their relationship. There is no proper flow to their conversation.

3^rd person narrator

Punctuates the conversation. This gives the reader insight in to the body language of the two characters. E.g. ‘the boy shrugs. He takes up the paper between himself and his father.’ This emphasises his inability and reluctance to communicate. The newspaper acts as a barrier between them. Reluctant to talk – ‘you haven’t shaved yet.’ – shows he is trying to delay father. The son is actively promoting this separation and wants to keep his father away from his private life, whereas the father is striving to break down the barriers between them so they can talk again and he can try to help/save his son.

- journalistic style (e.g. ‘the news begins’) reporting on the death of another youngster from drugs/violence etc. The detached style of the 3^rd person narrator again heightens the emotion that this is not a singular occurrence, many parents lose children through similar circumstances and have been unable to save them, despite how much they have tried – ‘I must speak to him.’ – almost as if the narrator is tired/bored of reading the same stories constantly – .– one objective voice in the city and through the characters’ lives. Son’s death will be in the news headlines that night – ‘the news has come to my house- ’urges us to sort out our own relationships

Hidden narration

We have to piece together fragments revealed by each character – the mother’s death – ‘is it my fault there is no woman in the house ? Is it my fault a good woman should die?’ ‘my mother is dead’ Etc. ‘Son’s involvement with drugs/crime – ‘I pulled you away from death once and now you will not talk to me. I want to know if you are in danger again.’ ‘Look, Da, I have not touched the stuff since I came back.’

Childhood memories of happier times – ‘he used to fish. To take me fishing.’ ‘when he was a boy I took him fishing.’ – same memory shows how strong their bond used to be – it’s the same memory both of them remember. They used to be happy – ‘ I want to hear you laugh with me like you used to.’ Irony – when son was younger he was ‘pestering [father] with questions’ – role reversal – this is what father does now. Symbolism – ‘the blood knot’ – tying the two together – again shows how close they were once and reader hopes they can return to this.

The hidden narration serves two purposes:

1. 
   keeps the reader involved throughout
   
2. 
   ensures that we empathise with the father- this is what he has to do with his son’s life – piece it together from the fragments he can work out.
   

Ending - Irony

The son being shot is ironic for three reasons:

1. 
   only after the gunman is the father able to ‘hold’ his son. He has wanted physical contact all the way through the story – ‘Let me put my arm around you and talk like we used to on the bus from Toome.’
   
2. 
   He wanted to keep his son safe throughout – ‘on bended knees I will pray for him to be safe.’
   
3. 
   He has been jealous of his son’s friends talking to him, but they are the ones who kill him. – I want you to talk to me the way I hear you talk to the people at the door.’
   

It is only with the son’s death that the barriers between them can be removed and the father can comfort his son – extremely emotional for the readers who then think about the state of their own relationships and how they could improve them.

Setting

Set in a time of conflict in Belfast.

The city itself has connotations of division and violence and MacLaverty is able to use this to reflect the tension and division within the father/son relationship. The story shows the effect of a violent society on the family and the fear that is created as a result of this. Symbolic setting of the story hints to the reader that conflict is going to be a major theme.

By setting the characters against the backdrop of Belfast, the author emphasises the violence within the characters’ home as it creates a parallel with the tension of the city. It is effective that the situation in Belfast at the time is mirrored with the characters’ lives, and the lack of communication in the city is reflected between father and son.

The setting of the house is also significant, and in particular the sounds